, better known by her stage name Chara, is a Japanese singer, actress and

video jockey A video jockey (abbreviated VJ or sometimes veejay) is an announcer or host who introduces music videos and live performances on commercial music television channels such as MTV, VH1, MuchMusic and Channel V. Origins The term "video jockey" come ...

. She debuted in 1991 with the single ''Heaven''. She is known for her song " Swallowtail Butterfly (Ai no Uta)", the theme song for the 1996

Shunji Iwai is a Japanese film director, video artist, writer and documentary maker. Life and career Iwai was born in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987. In 1988 he started out in the Japanese entertainment ...

film '' Swallowtail Butterfly'' in which she starred, her 1997 hit single "

Yasashii Kimochi is a song by Chara (singer), Chara, released as the first single from her 1997 album ''Junior Sweet''. The song was used in a Shiseido commercial for their 'Tessera J' range. The B-side of this single, ''Junior Sweet'', was also used in these com ...

", and her collaboration with

Judy and Mary Judy and Mary (often stylized as JUDY AND MARY) was a Japanese rock band formed in 1991 in Japan by bassist Yoshihito Onda and vocalist Yuki Isoya, Yuki, with drummer Kohta Igarashi and guitarist Taiji Fujimoto completing the lineup in 1992. Guit ...

vocalist Yuki, "

Ai no Hi Mittsu Orange is a special collaboration song between solo artist Chara (singer), Chara and Judy and Mary vocalist Yuki Isoya, Yuki. The song was used in a Sapporo Brewery, Sapporo Beer commercial for their campaign. The song was released as Chara's first si ...

". Chara later formed a band with Yuki, called Mean Machine.

Early life

Chara grew up in Kawaguchi, Saitama. She started learning the piano from age four, and starting composing songs in elementary school. In her first year of elementary school, she performed a song she had written, , at a school piano recital., accessed through She originally received her nickname ''Chara'' in junior high school, after a teacher called her this. She was so well known by this name that even some of her friends did not know her real name. She continues to use this name as she believes it brings out her inner child. After finishing high school, Chara went to Tokyo to a

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

, majoring in music and specialising in piano. However, she dropped out one year into her two-year degree. From 1984 onward, she worked as a keyboardist in several different unsigned bands. During this time, she found part-time work as a roller-skating waitress.Chara 1995, p. 94. In 1988, to get a chance to sing her own compositions, she decided to become a band vocalist instead. Her first live performance was at the Shinjuku Ruido live house in 1990.

Career

1991–1995: Early releases

Chara sent a demo tape to

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

in 1990, which caught the attention of Masahiro Ohara and landed her a deal with

Epic Records Japan Epic Records Japan is a Japanese record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Its founder was Shigeo Maruyama. Between 1978 and 1988 the label operated as a wholly owned subsidiary: Epic/Sony Inc. () was established in August 1978

She recorded her debut album in early 1991 in Tokyo and London, and debuted in September with a performance at the Shibuya Club Quattro and the release of her debut single ''Heaven''. In October, Chara became a personality on the

ANN Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

music show Video Jam, and later in November released her debut album ''

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones ...

''. The album was not very successful, only reaching No. 64 on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

's album charts. Chara's career gained more momentum after her first tour, ''Chara Live "Sweet"'' in May 1992. She became a radio personality for the

FM Yokohama FM Yokohama 84.7 is a radio station based in Yokohama, Japan owned by the Yokohama FM Broadcasting Company, a joint venture of Nippon Broadcasting System, Kanagawa Prefectural Government and Bank of Yokohama. This station was featured in the Xbox ...

, with her own radio show , and her second album,

Soul Kiss ''Soul Kiss'' is the twelfth studio album by English-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John, released on 25 October 1985 by Mercury Records in Europe, by Festival Records in Australia, and by MCA Records in the United States. It reached 11 ...

, won the 1992

Japan Record Award is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Until 2005, the show aired on New Year's Eve, but has since aired every December 30 on TBS Japan at 6:30 P.M JST a ...

for best rock/pop album from a new artist. The album reached No. 14 on the album charts. In 1993, she starred in many different commercials (or had her songs featured in them), including commercials for

Suntory (commonly referred to as simply Suntory) is a Japanese multinational brewing and distilling company group. Established in 1899, it is one of the oldest companies in the distribution of alcoholic beverages in Japan, and makes Japanese whisky. Its ...

, Shiseido,

Marui is a Japanese multinational retail company which operates a chain of department stores in Tokyo as well in other major Japanese cities. They are best known for their women's fashion and accessories, which are aimed at the 25–35 age range. ...

and Snow Brand ice creams. Her single , the song used in the Shiseido campaign, was her first top 100 charting single, reaching No. 66. The resulting album, ''

Violet Blue Violet Blue is an American journalist, author, editor, advisor, and educator. Blue wrote a weekly sex column for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' until 2010. In her podcast, Open Source Sex, she reads erotica and discusses topics such as feti ...

'', debuted at No. 4 on the charts. Her 1994 album, ''

Happy Toy is the fourth studio album by Chara, which was released on October 10, 1994. It debuted at #4 on the Japanese Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and info ...

'', riding on the success of her first top 50 single , also debuting at No. 4. In spring 1994, she filmed the

film

Picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

, in which she played a mental patient. The film would not be released for another two years. She starred aside

Tadanobu Asano , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in '' Electric Dragon 80.000 V'', Kakihara in '' Ichi the Killer'', Mamoru Arita in '' Bright Future'', Hattori Genosuke in ''Zatoichi'', Ke ...

, whom she married in 1995. Chara took a short break from music, releasing ''

Chara the Best Baby Baby Baby XXX is the first best album of Chara, which was released on October 10, 1995. It features material from her first four studio albums, Sweet, Soul Kiss, Violet Blue and Happy Toy; as well as some new material. It debuted at #5 on the Japanese Orico ...

'' and giving birth to her first child, a girl named .Sumire means violet.

1996–2001: Mainstream success

In February 1996, Chara began filming her second film for Iwai, titled '' Swallowtail Butterfly''. She played , a slum prostitute with musical aspirations. Chara recorded the soundtrack for the movie, collaborating with

Mr. Children , commonly referred to by their contracted nickname , are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki, they made their major label debut in 1992. They are one of t ...

music producer

Takeshi Kobayashi (born June 7, 1959), is a Japanese keyboardist, lyricist, composer, arranger, and record producer. History Kobayashi started his professional career in the late 1970s. After working in the backing bands for singers such as Yosui Inoue, Misato Wa ...

to create a

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

-esque sound. The music was released under the name ''Yen Town Band'', the name of the band Glico forms in the film. Before the movie's release, the theme song " Swallowtail Butterfly (Ai no Uta)" was released, along with Chara's first film with Iwai, Picnic, finding a proper cinema release. The film was a massive hit, propelling Chara to stardom. Both the concept album, ''

Montage Montage may refer to: Arts and entertainment Filmmaking and films * Montage (filmmaking), a technique in film editing * ''Montage'' (2013 film), a South Korean film Music * Montage (music), or sound collage * ''Montage'' (Block B EP), 201 ...

'', and the theme song reached No. 1 on Oricon charts. Her performance awarded her a

Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role The of the Japan Academy Prize is one of the annual Awards given by the ''Nippon Academy-sho association'' (Japan Academy Prize Association). On 2020, Shim Eun-kyung Shim Eun-kyung (born May 31, 1994) is a South Korean actress. She has sta ...

nomination. The film won the ''Most Popular Film'' award. Chara's fame soared, as shown by her next album ''

Junior Sweet is the sixth studio album by Chara, which was released on September 21, 1997. It debuted at #1 on the Japanese Oricon album charts for two weeks, and charted in the top 200 for 26 weeks. The album is Chara's most popular, and eventually sold 1, ...

''. The main single from the album, "

" (the Shiseido 'Tessera J' CM song), was a big hit, selling over 520,000 copies (subscription only) and became her second biggest hit after ''Swallowtail Butterfly (Ai no Uta)''. The album was certified by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

as selling over 1,000,000 copies. Her 1999 album, ''

Strange Fruits is the seventh studio album by Chara, which was released on March 17, 1999. It debuted at #3 on the Japanese Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and inf ...

'', saw some success, debuting at No. 3 and selling over 300,000 copies. Chara teamed up with

vocalist Yuki to release a special single called "

". This song is Chara's third biggest hit, selling over 230,000 copies. In 2000, Chara released her second best-of collection, '' Caramel Milk: The Best of Chara'', and 2001 released her 8th album, ''

Madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance music, Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque music, Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The Polyphony, polyphoni ...

''. ''Madrigal'' featured two tracks co-written with American guitarist

James Iha (born March 26, 1968) is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent years ...

2001–2005: Mean Machine

In late 2001, Chara released music as the drummer of the twin-drum all-girl rock band, Mean Machine, alongside Yuki, ''Swallowtail'' actress

Ayumi Ito is a Japanese actress from Tokyo, Japan. Career Ito played a supporting role in ''Tokyo!''. She also appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2012 television drama ''Penance''. Filmography Film * ''Samurai Kids'' (1993) – Chizuko Kusubayashi * '' Swal ...

, 1980s musician Mayumi Chiwaki and former funk/rock band Jagatara dancer Yukarie. The band was conceived in 1998, when Chiwaki mentioned to Chara that she thought it would be good to start up a girls' rock band. One of the tenets of the band was that all members would have to do something they'd never tried before, landing Chara on drums. The band first practiced in 1999, and continued to sporadically practice throughout 2000, despite different members' schedules. In 2001, the band debuted with the song , which was written by Chara during her second pregnancy, inspired by the breathing sounds of the

Lamaze technique The Lamaze technique, also known as the psychoprophylactic method or simply Lamaze, began as a prepared childbirth technique. As an alternative to medical intervention during childbirth, it was popularized in the 1950s by French obstetrician Dr. F ...

. Soon after, the band released their debut album ''

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

''. In 2003, Chara released her 9th solo album, ''

Yoake Mae is the ninth studio album by Chara (singer), Chara, which was released on March 19, 2003. It debuted at #17 on the Japanese Oricon album charts, and charted in the top 300 for 5 weeks. It eventually sold 47,000 copies. The entire album was prod ...

'', and in 2004 released an album of re-recordings of songs from her early albums, ''

A Scenery Like Me is a self-cover album by Chara, which was released on February 18, 2004. It debuted at #27 on the Japanese Oricon album charts, and charted in the top 300 for 5 weeks. It eventually sold 19,000 copies. The album features new versions of materia ...

''. This heralded the end of Chara's Sony contract. Chara self-released her music after this point, recording songs from her own home and self-producing her work. These recordings resulted in a limited 2,000 copy album, '' Something Blue'', and a digital single (used as the theme song for the Japanese release of the movie ''

March of the Penguins ''March of the Penguins'' (French ''La Marche de l'empereur'' ; ) is a 2005 French feature-length nature documentary directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The documentary dep ...

''). During this period, Chara created several bands. One, ''Cold Sugar'' was a collaboration with

Arai Akino is a Japanese singer, songwriter, and lyricist for various anime theme songs and shows, including ''Record of Lodoss War'', ''Please Save My Earth'', ''Macross Plus'', ''Outlaw Star'', ''Kaze no Stigma'', ''Maoyu'', and ''Aria (manga), Aria The ...

2006–present

Chara re-debuted as a major label artist in 2006, with the release of the single " Sekai". Her single "Fantasy" was a minor hit, reaching No. 13 on Oricon charts. It was written in collaboration with

Seiji Kameda is a Japanese music producer, arranger and bass guitarist. He has worked extensively with Ringo Shiina, serving as her producer and touring bassist for many years, including his tenure with their band Tokyo Jihen from 2005 to 2012. Biography ...

, producer for artists such as

Do As Infinity Do As Infinity is a Japanese pop and rock band that formed in 1999 with three members: vocalist Tomiko Van, guitarist Ryo Owatari, and guitarist and composer Dai Nagao. The band's name is sometimes abbreviated as DAI, alluding to the fact that ...

and bassist for the band

Tokyo Jihen , also known as Tokyo Incidents, is a Japanese rock band formed by Ringo Sheena, after leaving her solo career. The band's debut single " Gunjō Biyori" was released in September 2004, and they ended activities in February 2012. The band sold 2. ...

. The following album, ''

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

'', also fared well. It reached the top 5 in Oricon's album charts, and outsold her former two Sony released albums. On the back of Chara's returned success, Sony released the compilation album, '' Sugar Hunter: The Best Love Songs of Chara''. Chara's Universal singles have fared better on digital charts. "Trophy", a single from Chara's second Universal album ''

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

'', did well digitally, despite the physical release only reaching No. 37. After the end of her contract with Universal, Chara released a new mini-album, Utakata, on November 2011 under BounDEE Inc. (a subsidiary of Space Shower Networks, the owners of

Space Shower TV is a Japanese music television channel operated by Space Shower Networks, Inc. The company is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The channel launched at 6:00 on December 1, 1989. The idea behind establishing Space Shower TV was to create a speciali ...

). ''Utakata'' charted at 56th spot on the

charts and lasted there for three weeks. On December 14, 2011, Chara announced in a concert at Shibuya-AX her transfer to Ki/oon Records (now Ki/oon Music), an imprint of Sony Music Japan. She joined Ki/oon's 20th anniversary concert tour, "Ki/oon 20 Years and Days", in April 2012 at Liquidroom Ebisu, Tokyo. She released her first single through Ki/oon, "Alterna Girlfriend", on June 6, 2012. Chara collaborated with

Basement Jaxx Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene ...

for the song "Wherever You Go" on the album ''

Junto Junto may refer to: * Whig Junto (c. 1700), English political leaders' group, that began to dominate the ministry from 1693 and held onto power intermittently until 1717 when members of the group fell out * Junto (club) The Junto, also known as ...

'' in 2014.

Personal life

In 1994, Chara married actor

. She met Asano on the set of the 1994 film ''

'', in which they were both starring actors. Chara gave birth to a daughter, , on July 4, 1995. Chara also had a son with Asano on December 19, 1998. The couple attended the

80th Academy Awards The 80th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2007. The award ceremony took place on February 24, 2008, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During t ...

in Los Angeles in 2008, as the film ''

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...

'', in which Asano starred, was nominated for the best foreign film category as the submission from

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. On July 25, 2009, Chara announced her amicable divorce from Asano, after fourteen years of marriage. Chara has two tattoos: a blue bird on her back, and a on her neck. Chara's children feature in her music. Sumire features on the cover of her album ''Honey'', which also has a track named after her.

Discography

*''

'' (1991) *''

'' (1992) *''

'' (1993) *''

'' (1994) *''

'' (1996) *''

'' (1997) *''

'' (1999) *''

'' (2001) *''

'' (2003) *''

'' (2004) *'' Something Blue'' (2005) *''

'' (2007) *''

'' (2008) *'' Carol'' (2009) *'' Dark Candy'' (2011) *'' Cocoon'' (2012) *''Jewel'' (2013) *'' Secret Garden'' (2015) *''Diverse Journey'' (2016) *''Sympathy'' (2017) *''Baby Bump'' (2018)

Filmography

Films

Series

TV music shows

References

External links

*
Official Universal Music Label Site

Ongaku Bāka Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chara 1968 births Living people People from Kawaguchi, Saitama Actors from Saitama Prefecture Japanese film actresses Japanese women pop singers Japanese songwriters Japanese television personalities Japanese radio personalities Japanese women rock singers Mean Machine (band) members 20th-century Japanese actresses A&M Records artists Epic Records artists VJs (media personalities) Musicians from Saitama Prefecture 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers Ki/oon Music artists Universal Music Japan artists Trip hop musicians Downtempo musicians